The Overseer Apprenitce
by xwlr
Summary: I was inspired to write this story by the book I found in Coldrige Prison about how they select new overseers. There was also a letter from a parent to his abducted son somewhere in the back yard around the bank. But this is a story of a boy who is chosen by the Abbey as well as by the Outsider. English is not my native language so sorry for any grammatical mistakes.


The fisherman's little son, twelve year old Kenneth awoke from a sweet dream. He dreamt he was fishing in peace during the sunrise on an island far, far away from the rat plague, with his father sitting next to him, in warmth and happiness. His younger brother's shaking ended the illusion.

"Kenny! Wake up already! You must go away! Run!"

Kenny blinked and shook his head as he sat up in his bed, still feeling slightly dizzy.

"Why? Who? What are you talking about...?"

"They are here for you! You must run away, please!"

"Who are here ... ?"

He was interrupted by the scream of his mother as she was pushed aside just before the door to his room slammed open by a masked figure.

"No, not my son, please!" - his mother begged.

"Woman, if you don't stop setting us back, I am authorized to use lethal force and so I will."

The stranger's words pierced Kenny's heart. Only at this time he realised how serious the situation really is.

"But no! Please don't take him!"

"God damn it, get off already!" - the masked man shoved the woman away who fell on the floor.

"You! The older boy!" - the masked stranger began - "From now on you are officially an overseer trainee. You have been chosen by the constellation. You have five minutes to gather any stuff you can carry in your two hands."

Kenny just kept laying, his eyes wide, catching for breath. He felt an extremely heavy weight on his lunges and his belly filled with ice. He couldn't make himself move. He simply couldn't process the thought that by most likely chance this is the last time he sees his borther, his mother, his family, house, everything. The masked guy walked over to his bed and leant against the wall near it while his associates restrained the other family members, dragging away his crying brother and mother, out of the room.

"Nothing of value, kid?" - he asked - "Don't worry, the Abbey will provide for you, if you show diligence and dedication. The stars were kind to you, you have a chance to recive training most people can't even dream of?"

"A chance...?" - Kenneth now spoke, his voice quiet and trembling - "And I do I have a choice?"

The masked man looked down at him, his emotions hidden.

"The stars already made the choice for you! So, nothing to pack up? Allright, get up and follow me. Don't make me drag you because you'll regret it."

The young boy still couldn't make a move. A few seconds later the overseer grabbed him by his already torn, old shirt. His mask hid his face but his dreadful anger was obvious as he whispered:

"I said, don't make me drag you...!"

Fear taking over him, Kenneth mechanically crawled out of his bed. It wasn't even dawn yet, and he was both tired and shocked by fear. As the overseer motioned with his head to his fellows to move on, he quickly grabbed the fishing rod laying near his bed, a gift from his father. He had no other valuables. As he was led out of his home, he could see his father held down by another overseer, but at least he seemed unharmed.

"Kenny, my son!" - he shouted over to the boy - "I love you! Know that I will always love you!"

"I love you too dad!" - Kenny muttered back.

"Get a move on already!" - shouted the overseer as he slapped the boy's back with considerable force for a young child - "We haven't got all day for family and goodbye kisses."

The overseers put the boy on a carriage nearby which started as soon as everyone quickly got on it. The overseer sat the boy between him and one of his fellows, and with a motion that seemed like a routine of long years, he wiped the tears off the child's face with a handkerchief.

"Now, my boy..." - the leader of the group began in a friendlier tone now, once the carriage was rolling, clearly comforted by the thought that he doesn't have to prevent any more waste of time - "We will be going to an old and venerable outpost of the Abbey. There you will meet your new friends and your new life begins."

If it hasn't been for the mask, a satisfied smile could have been seen on the overseer's face.

"I want my old life back..." - Ken barely managed to squeeze out a whisper.

The overseer immediately grabbed him by the shirt again and shouted into his face:

"You do not speak unless you are asked! You WILL learn that in the Abbey, NO ONE speaks unleass they are permitted to by their superiors!"

This caused a new river of tears to flow from the boy's eyes, but the dread kept the cries within.

[...]

After two hours of silent carriage ride, when the sun was already coming up the horizon, finally the outpost appeared. There were a lot of other carriages as well, some carrying single boys, some multiple, but all miserable. It seemsed the constellations did not favor to pick from the houses of the rich.

Kenny was pushed off the carriage and all the children were sheparded into one large group.

"Form a line kids! I want a straight line!" - a leader overseer shouted.

With a little pushing from the overseers the children quickly lined up next to each other, many of them tightly holding an object in their hands, just like Kenny grasping the fishing rod he got from his father.

"All right boys! I am Lenton, Chief Overseer of the outpost. To you, I will be the almighty until you take the pilgrimage and are measured. Any order disobeyed will be suverely retalieted!"

A boy at the end of the line, around eight, started crying. He muttered words between sobs which were hard to understand.

"Take him away please!" - Lenton commanded.

An overseer immediatley grabbed the boy and dragged him away.

"Please, we do not tolerate weakness. But! We acknowledge it! We know you are not yet trained and therefore are fragile. To do against it, any sign of weakness will be answered by tasks that require endurance and determination to complete. Now, all of you place any object you have into a pile in front of me. NOW!"

The kids shivering from fear, all walked over to the Chief Overseer and placed objects on the ground ahead of him like simple necklaces, pieces of cloth, toy swords, items that had connection to their families. Kenneth also had to place his fishing rod into the pile, though it practically fell out of his hands. The masks seemed pleased.

Then Lenton spoke again.

"Great! Since I saw no object of any practical use placed ahed of me, Solon, would you be so kind as to ignite this pile of useless emotions?"

An overseer walked over, and with a special tool quickly set the pile on fire. Kenneth choked on his breath as he saw the flames engulf his beloved gift. His knees shaked and he shivered in his entire being. He felt so terribly homesick and depressed that he couldn't even imagine such desperate feelings before.

"Boys! You must forget your families! Now your family is the Abbey, and I am your father! You obey to me for the time of your preparation here!"

"Now then" - Lenton continued from behind his mask - "Let's first talk about your duties, the reason why you are here. What an overseer does. You, as overseers, will have to protect and serve the Abbey, and cleanse the city from the heretic worship of the Outsider. Some of you might have already heard about him, some may not. The Outsider is a wicked trickster who prays on the innocent! His followers use his evil tricks and petty magics to fight us as they strive to destroy humanity!"

He held up a pice of pergamen with a rune marking on it.

"This is his sign. Any object seen with this mark is to be destroyed. Any man seen with it, is to be killed."

With that, he threw the pergamen into the fire.

"Your training will begin in three hours. During this time you will be in the dormitory. And one more thing, none of you is allowed to speak without permission at ANY given time. For this three hours, I give you permission to talk to each other."

Ken kept staring at the pile of ash that remained out of all the beloved objects, including his own. His eyes once again filled with tears, but now it was not only out of loss, but also mixed with anger, resentment, desperation and hatred. His little heart started to fill with true hatred towards those who took so much from him.

"Move on, boy!" - an overseer pushed him by the shoulder.

And then, not even Kenneth knew why, but he screamed, shouted:

"GIVE ME BACK MY FISHING ROD!" - he cried before breaking down into a wave of sobs.

"Hmm..." - Lenton said with a causal tone - "I see a lesson of endurance is needed. To boy does not go to the dormitory. He will stay out here the whole day until nightfall, and stand in the middle of the ash pile once it's cold enough not to cause him permanent damage. If he says a word, sits down or falls, give him ten lashes and make him retake the position."

Kenny felt strong hands grabbing him by his arms and pulling him up from his knees.

"If he succeeds, he will be rewarded with complete forgiveness."

"Yes sir!" - the overseers answered.

...

It was excrutiating. Kenny's legs gave up many times until dusk and the cold air was stinging the cuts on his back caused by the whip. His heart completely broke and his eyes were sore of crying. Just after sundown he was finally allowed to go to bed, and now there he was, laying on his belly with aching legs and back, trying to fall asleep and never wake up. By the end of the day he was filled with so much pain and hatred it almost flowed out of him.

But eventually he fell asleep. He found himself on the same island as last night, the air was warm and he had his fishing rod in his hands, waiting for a cacth. This time however, his father was missing, and when he looked around he saw the buildings of the outpost behind himself. He screamed as he jumped to his feet, dropping the fishing rod that turned to ash as it touched the ground.

He wanted to swim away but he noticed the sea was kind of ... empty. The depths below the island were just like the sky above it. The boy had to acknowledge that the island was literally floating in nothing. Then a ship appeared and sailed to to the shore, and dropped anchor into the nothing, the metal never seemed to stop, dragging the chain along. The captain of the ship, walked over to it's side.

"What are you doing on this island, little boy?" - he asked - "The overseer outpost behind you, and you've got nowhere to go, but the depths of the void. Not what you expected of this day, is it?"

Kenny's frightened mind starting working on possible escapes.

"Please sir, can't you take me away with your ship?"

"Getting on this ship takes many consequences, some of them you may regret later. For example, do you even know where is my ship heading?"

"No sir!" - Kenneth muttered with tearful eyes - "But they are going to kill me. They burned my fishing rod too!"

"Well that's not nice, is it now." - the captain shrugged - "But how do you know if I would take you on board, I wouldn't burn three other fishing rods in exchange?"

Kenny stopped for a moment, collecting his courage, determined to escape the island with the ship.

"If it's the overseer's fishing rods, then I don't care." - he said quietly, his hatred taking over him again.

"And in your depseration, you would take a ship without a destination? Not knowing where it goes, be it better or worse?" - the captain asked.

Kenny only nodded silently.

"Allright, my child." - the young captain smiled - "Get on board and I will give you my ship. You sail with it wherever you want to, but I make no promise about the land you'll arive at."

A board appeared, connecting the island with the ship. Kenny walked over to it, took a deep breat, and stepped on it.

[...]

He awoke to the whispers of the many boys standing around his bed.

"No, I'm sure he'll be killed. Lenton looked very serious." - a concerned young voice said.

"They said something about a brand. The heretic's brand." - answered another.

"Right across his pretty face?" - came the comment from and older kid.

"Look, he's awake!"

"Hey, why did you do it, boy?"

"Yeah, why did you?"

Kenny was utterly confused. His head was hurting terribly, just like his legs and back, still from yesterday.

"I did what?" - he asked slowly, fear filling him of future punishemnt. It seemed he was in trouble.

"Why did you drew the forbidden symbol on your hand? You wanted to get killed?"

"I didn't ..."

But when Kenny looked at his left hand, he saw a rune. The rune he remebered that was burned at the introduction. The Outsider's rune. Just as he looked at it, the mark began to glow, and he felt power streaming through his veins. Suddenly he felt cofidence, and also hatred, hatred that overcame his whole being. Images flashed before his eyes, the image of his screaming mother, his little brother whom he loved, the burnt fishing rod, the whip he was beaten with.

"I drew it ... " - he said hoarsly - "To take my revenge."

"Idiot... He gone mad... Now it's sure they'll kill him..." - came the whisprers from all around.

Then an overseer entered the room, and with heavy, strong and threatening steps he was walking towards Ken's bed. A surge of fear rushed through the boy which was followed by desperate anger, as he blinked at the rune on his hand.

"Now you'll pay, heret..."

He couldn't finish the sentence. Kenneth held out his arm, the symbol glowing brightly on the back of his hand. The overseer stopped, and started cathing for breath.

"What ... who's there? NO! Leave me alone!" - he screamed into the air.

His legs started shaking and he began trembling. He drew his sword.

"The Devil!" - he cried - "The Devil's INSIDE ME! THE DEVIL'S INSIDE ME GET IT OUT!" - he screamed as he thrusted his sword into his own stomach, cutting it open and trying to make the illusion of the devil leave his body.

Eveyone screamed at the sight and got farther from the haxed overseer. Within minutes, others appeared.

"THE DEVIL'S INSIDE ME!" - he still kept screaming, blood flowing out of his cut open belly.

One twisted the blade out of his mate's friend and tried to calm him down, the others targeted the boy. The child seemed like as if he was in trance, haveing lost emotions, his eyes now empty, clanching his fist, he spawned a swarm of roaches that kept flooding out of the wounded overseer's open cut, attacking his companions who were soon covered with the insects.

Kenneth made another gesture that filled his eyes with vision, sight through everything. He noticed Lenton, the Chief Overseer coming. It was all natural now, the symbol almost worked on it's own.

The boy quickly gathered what little clothes he had and prepared to escape. He jumped out of his bed and ran out of the dormitory, leaving the overseers to the ravanous insects. Just before he could exit the building, Lenton stood in his way, panting as he arrived running from the other building.

"How ironic." - he gasped, out of breath - "For the Outsider to pick one of our own apprentices. That bloody trickster."

The boy's eyes now filled with tears again, of anguish and anger.

"YOU BURNED MY FISHING ROD!" - he screamed - "IT WAS A GIFT FROM MY FATHER! I'LL BURN YOU FOR IT!"

"No you won't" - said Lenton just as he reached for a music machine nearby, but the Outsider's mark works faster than an arm's reach. Before the Chief Overseer could touch the machine flames engulfed his entire body, rapidly turning it to ash.

Kenneth frightened by the sight himself, quickly ran off. When he was safely away, he closed his eyes and focused on his home, he wanted to just appear there. He knew he could.

When he opened his eyes again, he was home. His father was just preparing to head out to work.

"Kenny!" - he shouted - "How?! You're back! How did you...?"

The boy was still panting from all the run and excitement. As he started to calm down, he though over just what he really did.

"Father, I killed them. The Outsider..." - he couldn't continue. He just realised what a slaughter he made. Perhaps this wasn't what he really wanted? Or was it?

His father was shocked.

"Killed them ... ? But then, what I will do with you?

"Why?" - Kenny asked in surprise - "It's over now, I'm home. We'll live like we used to!" - he said desperately.

"Oh my son, no it doesn't work like that. Let me see your hand ... yes, it's really there. So you really killed overseers, you wear His mark ... you will be hunted for as long as you live. May the Outsider help you, Kenny."

Kenneth just sobbed as tears filled his eyes again.

"I'm sure he will, dad. I'm sure he will" - he said.


End file.
